1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, and in particular to a connector for connecting wire harnesses that comprises a female housing and a male housing to be fitted to the female housing, in which the connector has a function for confirming the fitting condition by producing a sound when the male housing is properly fitted to the female housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In connectors for connecting wire harnesses, it is very important to secure the electrical connection between the male terminals provided in a female housing and the female terminals provided in a male housing when these housings are connected. Therefore, such connectors are required to have a function that makes it easy to confirm a proper fitting between the housings.
As one type of connector having such a function, there is a connector disclosed in Laid Open Publication of Japanese Utility Model application No. 62-15784. As shown in FIG. 1, the connector 1 comprises a female housing 2 and a male housing 3 to be fitted into the female housing 2. The female and male housings 2, 3 include a plurality of terminals therein, respectively. Further, the connector 1 has a locking structure comprising a flexible locking arm 4 provided on the male housing 3 and a locking projection 5 provided on the female housing 2. The flexible locking arm 4 is protrudingly provided on the male connector housing 3. The flexible locking arm 4 has a locking aperture 4a therein which locks with the locking projection 5 when the female and male housings 2, 3 are fitted together. Further, behind the locking projection 5, there is provided a sound producing portion 6. The sound producing portion 6 is formed as a raised portion 6 on the female housing 2, against which strikes the flexible locking arm 4 as a result of the restoring force generated in the locking arm 4 when the locking arm 4 rides across the projection 5, whereby a fitting-confirmation sound is produced.
In another type of conventional connector, as shown in FIG. 2, a sound producing portion 7 is formed around the locking projection 5 in order to produce a fitting-confirmation sound.
However, in these conventional connectors, since the sound producing portion is formed on the side of the connector housing, it is not possible to produce a sound sufficiently large enough to confirm a proper fitting between the housings.